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08/13/2013

Cuccinelli refuses questions on Inspector General Investigation

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli held an event Tuesday morning designed to roll out his education plan at the Maggie Walker Governor's School in Richmond.

After a lengthy event where outlined his proposal, Cuccinelli took questions on education from reporters for roughly four minutes. When the questions on education were over, the assembled press corp attempted to ask the GOP candidate for Governor about the report from the Bristol Herald Courier that his office was under investigation by the Inspector General over their handling of a gas royalty case in Southwest Virginia.

Virginia’s state inspector general is still investigating whether an
attorney general staffer wrongfully advised energy company lawyers in an
ongoing federal court battle with regional landowners seeking natural
gas royalties.

It could take months to wrap up the investigation,
initially called for by a state legislator in June after a federal
magistrate judge voiced shock over emails between the staffer and
lawyers for Pittsburgh-based CONSOL Energy and EQT Production.

“There is no timetable,” State Inspector General Michael F. A. Morehart told the Bristol Herald Courier on Monday.

The
investigation could end with a wide range of possible findings – from
no wrongdoing, to a breach of ethics, or even a call for criminal
charges.

At the heart of the investigation are five emails in
which AG staffer Sharon Pigeon seems to offer legal advice on how the
lawyers should fight a series of three-year-old lawsuits seeking at
least $28 million in natural gas royalties now tied up in state-mandated
escrow accounts.

Pigeon is also the state’s legal adviser to the
Virginia Gas and Oil Board, the state agency that permits energy
companies to siphon the natural gas below multiple tracts of land before
anyone has decided who owns the gas. The board also makes sure the
royalties belonging to the undetermined owners are then placed in the
escrow accounts for future legal dispute.

Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli has maintained that his office’s involvement in the case is
limited to any challenge against the constitutionality of state laws and
he sent staffers to defend Virginia law in some of the federal
hearings.

Cuccinelli has maintained that his office was just doing it's job, but when pressed by reporters at this morning's event (the first time he was available to the press since the story broke) the Attorney General chose not to comment.

Here is the video of his interaction with reporters.

Cuccinelli told reporters that he has repeatedly answered off topic questions at any number of press gaggles after events where he was rolling out substantive policy initiatives. He said that everyone has complained about "negative" campaigning and this event was about a substantive, positive policy initiative.

Later his campaign released a statement from Cuccinelli that welcomed the IG's probe into the Southwest Virginia gas royalty dispute.

"We're glad the
Inspector General's Office has been looking into this case because they're
going to find that our office acted appropriately. We've been cooperating with
the IG at every step of the way. One of the main functions of the attorney
general's office is to defend Virginia statutes from legal challenges and
that's exactly what we've done in that case."- Ken Cuccinelli

Democrats quickly pounced. Cuccinelli's opponent Terry McAuliffe called on Cuccinelli to immediatley remove his office from the case.

"News
today that the Inspector General is investigating Ken Cuccinelli for his role
in helping out-of-state energy companies against Virginia landowners is
confirmation of a disturbing trend in the Attorney General’s office. Whether it
is Bobby Thompson, Jonnie Williams or out-of-state energy companies, Ken
Cuccinelli has led one of the most conflicted and scandal plagued Attorney
General’s offices in recent memory. A federal judge already said that she was
“shocked” at the conduct of the Attorney General’s office in this case.

"While
this investigation is ongoing, the Attorney General should immediately recuse
himself and his office from all matters involving the dispute between energy
companies and landowners as well as all matters before the Oil and Gas Board.
It is completely inappropriate that Cuccinelli continues his role in the case
despite being under investigation for his conduct.

"Southwest Virginia landowners deserve to be paid what they
are owed."- Terry McAuliffe

Not long after the event- where Cuccinelli criticized the focus on the negative aspect of the campaign and touted the release of a positive ad- his campaign dropped a new attack ad directed at McAuliffe's connection to the investigation into his former company GreenTech.

As for the education policy proposal, you can see Cuccinelli's entire plan here. McAuliffe released his education plan in May.

The full press gaggle with the questions on his proposal can be found below: